Device for holding a container



Get. 1, 1957 B. E. oBucK DEVICE FOR HOLDING A CONTAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 24, 1953 INVENTOR BENJAMIN E. ROBUCK ATTORNEYS BY W1??? Oct. 1, 1957 B. E. ROBUCK DEVICE FOR HOLDING A CONTAINER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 24, 1953 INVENTOR BENJAMIN E. ROBUCK ATTORNEYS various sizes of-containers.

invention is the provision-of a method of manufacturing United States Patent DEVICE FOR HOLDING A CONTAINER Benjamin E.'-Robuck, College Park, Ga. Application November 24, 1953, Serial No. 393,980

7 Claims. (Cl. 294-29) This inventionrelates to device forholding or. gripping a container, and more particularly to a device for holding a container suchas apaint can.

Frequently,,after,the lid or cover has been removed from a container, such as .a paint can for example, the contents drip or spill onto the outside surfaces of the container, resulting in soiling of the hands of the person handling ,the container. This problem is particularly troublesome in the case of paint cans which often become coated with paint drippings. The device of this invention has particular utility as a holder for paint cans and will be described as such although the device may be used equally well for holding and carrying other types of containers.

It is an object of this invention to provide a device for gripping or holding a container, such as a paint can for example, at its opposite ends in such manner as to avoid direct contact with the surfaces of the can or container by the person handling the paint can.

It is another object of this invention to provide a paint can holder which effectively grips the opposite ends of a paint can to permit moving the paint can without getting paint on the hands of the person doing the painting.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a device for holding cans, particularly paint cans, which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, and which can be sold at .a nominal price.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a holding device which may be easily adjusted to hold various sizes of containers, such as paint cans.

In achievement of these objectives, this invention provides a holding device for containers suchas paint cans, having a handle member and a downwardlydepen-ding body portion attached to the handle which carriesat its forward end a stationary clamping element in the form of a pair of overhanging lips adapted to grip the outer periphery of the top of the paint can. The body portion houses a screw-threaded rod member having at its outer end a clamp element adapted 'to engage the outer periphery of'the opposite end of the can. A nut member is positioned on the threaded shaft and is supported by the body portion in such manner that the nut member may be turned to adjust the spacing of the clamp element carried by the outer end of the screw-threaded shaft-with respect to the lips carried by the opposite end of the holder. Rotatiomofthe; nut on the; shaft serves to. clamp positely-disposed clamp 1element,,as well1as to permit adjustment ofithe displacernent of the movable clamp element with respect to the stationary clamp element for A further feature of the the paint can holder in accordance with which the handle member and the body portion may be fabricatedfrorn a quired for the paint can holder.

a Patented Oct. 1,1957

The features of this invention which are believed-to be novel aresetforth withparticularity in the appended claims.

The'inventionitself, however, both as to its organization and use together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference -to the following description taken in connection-with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partially cut away, of a paint can holder in accordance with the invention, showing the holder in-position for gripping theoppositeendsof .generallyindicated at 10 comprises ahandle portion 12 I and a body-portion14 whichdependsdownwardly from the underneath surface of the forward endof the handle.

' device.

The-holder is-provided with a stationary clamping means in the form of a pair of lips or gripping elements 16 which are inclined forwardly and downwardly from the forward --portion-of-the holder 10 for engagement with the groove 17 at the upper end of the can C. The forward portion of the handle 12 is substantially perpendicular to the downwardly depending body portion'14, but the handle curves downwardly as it approaches its outer end spaced away from the body'portion in order to provide a comfortable gripping surface for the person holding the The body 14 is of hollow construction and in the embodiment shown isof triangular shape. "The front of the body portion directed toward the surface of the can is openand two sides 18 and 20 meet atan apex edge 22 at the rearof the body portion. Thetwo sides 18 and 20 are joined at the bottom of the body, portion by a triangular-shaped end piece or base portion 24-which is rigidly attached to .the lower inside surfaces of .sides 18 and 20.

In order to aid in maintaining the rigidityofthe body portion 14, and to space the sides 18 and 20 in.their proper relation, a triangular-shaped spacer member 26 is disposed between the inner surfaces of sides 18 and 20 adjacent the upper end of the body portion, the spacer 26 being attached to the sides by welding or by any other suitable method.

The body portion receives a threaded shaft member 28 which extends longitudinally through the interior of the hollow body'and projects outwardly through an aperture ment 34 which is adapted to engage the peripheral bead .35 at the-lower end of the paint can.

A nut member 38 is in threaded engagement with an intermediate portion of the threaded shaft '28 in order to permit-adjustment of the spacing of the clamp element .34with respect to the lips 16 at the upper end of the holder.

in orderto accommodate the-nut member, the:side portions 18 and .20 are-provided with'symmetrically-dis- 'posed cut-away portions which extend from thezapexedge 22, toward the front of the holder to thereby define an opening or window 4.0.

The handle and body portions of the paint can .holder hereinbefore described can be fabricatedfroma single metal stamping of the shape shown in Fig. 4. The fabrication of .the paint holder using the metal blanlcgenerally indicated at'42 in Fig. 4. permits the handle 12 and-the-body 14,of the paint .can' holder to be a .sin'gle integral structure. From an examina'tion of the" stamping 42 it will be seen that the stamping contains a central portion which ultimately forms the handle 12 and lefthand and right-hand wing portions which respectively contain the sides18- and 29 of the body'portion 14.

In forming the integral handle and bodyportions, the stamping 42 is bent so that the surface of the handle 12 bows downwardly, presenting a convex upper surface which may be comfortably grasped by the person holding the device. The outer edge of the handle is bent under the upper convex surface as indicated by the dotted line 56 in Fig. 2. The left-hand and right-hand wings are bent along the dotted lines 44 and 46, respectively, and the edges 22a and 22b in the'left-hand and'righthand wing portions are drawn toward each other until they meet to define the apex line 22 shown in Fig. 3. This causes the surface portion 48 between the dotted lines 44 and 52 in-the left-hand wing of stamping 42 to extend downwardly and inwardly from the line 44 at an angle directed to the rear apex edge 22, and so causes the surface 50 in the right-hand wing of the stamping to be inclined downwardly and inwardly from the dotted line 46 at an angle directed toward the apex edge 22. The straight side portions 18 and 20 extend vertically downwardly from the dotted lines 52 and 54, respectively, when the edges 22a and 22b are in abutting relation. The tab portion 24 at the outer extreme of the right-hand wing of the stamping is bent inwardly at right-angles from the dotted line 24a to form the base portion 24. The lip portions 16 are bent downwardly along the dotted lines 16'.

In order to provide a stronger structural characteristic at the forward portion of the handle, the front surface of the handle is bent downwardly from the dotted lines 56a and 56b to provide two sloping surfaces 560 and 560! which slope inwardly toward the line 56e which lies in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the handle 12. The edge 24b of the base portion 24 is spot-welded to the inside bottom surface of side 18 and the triangularshaped spacer 26 is welded to the inside surface of sides 18 and 20. Also, the portions of edges 22a and 22]) below the window 48 are spot-welded together to add rigidity to the nut supporting portion of the body.

After the stamping 41'? has been bent and welded together in a manner just described to form the composite handle and body structure shown in Fig. 3, the nut 38 is positioned in the window or opening 40 and the screwthreaded shaft 28 is passed through the aperture 30 of the base portion 24 to threadedly engage the nut 38. The nut 38 is then turned to move the screw-threaded shaft upwardly until it finally assumes a position substantially as shown in Fig. 1. In passing upwardly through the body portion 14, the screw-threaded shaft passes through the aperture 32 in the spacer plate 26.

To use the paint can holder, the holder is positioned in a manner similar to that shown in Fig. 1 so that the gripping elements 16 are disposed above the groove 17 of the paint can C, and with the clamp element 34 positioned below the head 36 at the bottom end of the can. The not member 38 is then rotated until the gripping elements 16 and clamp 34 firmly engage the groove 17 and the head 36, respectively, so that the paint can is securely engaged by the holder 10. When the gripping elements 16 and the clamping element 34 engage the groove 17 and head 36 the bottom surface of the nut 38 rests upon the bottom edge 41 of the window 40.

To disengage the paint can holder from the can C, the nut member 38 is turned in such a direction as to move the threaded shaft 28 in a direction which increases the displacement between the clamp element 34 and the gripping elements 16 sufliciently for the paint can holder to be moved clear of the can. 4

It is obvious that the paint can holder hereinbefore described can be used with various sizes of cans by merely turning the nut 38 to suitably adjust the displacement of the clamp element 34 with respect to the gripping elements 16.

It can be seen from the foregoing that there is provided in accordance with this invention a simple and easily operated can holding device, which is particularly suitable for use in holding paint cans. The device is inexpensive to manufacture and can be sold at a nominal price. Furthermore, the paint can holder is adjustable for use with various sizes of cans. Also, a method has been disclosed for manufacturing the handle and body portions of the paint can holder from a single stamping which permits inexpensive manufacture of the'device of the invention.

It is obvious that the paint can holder may be fabricated by other methods than that disclosed and that the holder may be made of metal, plastic or other suitable materials.

While there has beenshown and described a particular embodiment of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the invention and, therefore, it is aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A device for holding a container, said device comprising a handle, a body portion rigidly fixed to and extending downwardly from a forward portion of said handle, stationary clamp means rigidly fixed to said body portion and to said handle extending forwardly from said device adjacent the upper end of said body portion for engagement with one end of a container, a movable clamp means extending from the lower end of said body portion for engaging an opposite end of said container, said movable clamp means being separate from said body portion and said handle and linearly movable relative thereto by a screw-threaded movement, and means supported by said body portion for linearly moving said movable clamp means to adjust the displacement between said stationary clamp means and said movable clamp means.

2. A device for holding a container, said device comprising a handle, a body portion rigidly fixed to and extending downwardly from a forward portion of said handle, at least one clamping lip rigidly fixed to said body portion and to said handle and extending forwardly of said device for gripping one end of a container, a clamp ing element separate from said handle and said body portion supported by said body portion and linearly movable with a screw-threaded movement to clamp an opposite end of 'said container, and means carried by said body portion for linearly moving said movable clamping element to adjust the displacement of said clamping element from said clamping lip. a

3. A device for holding a container, said device co prising a handle, a body portion rigidly fixed to and extending downwardly from said handle, at least one lip rigidly fixed to said body portion and to said handle and extending forwardly from an upper portion of said device for gripping one end of said container, a clamping element separate from said handle and said body portion and positioned adjacent a lower portion of said device, said clamping element being linearly movable with a screw-threaded movement to grip an opposite end of said container, and means for linearly moving said movable clamping element to adjust the displacement between said lip and said clamping element whereby opposite ends of said container may be gripped between said lip and said clamping element.

4. A device for holding a container, said device comprising a handle, a body portion connected to the forward portion of said handle, stationary clamp means rigidly fixed to said handle and said body portion and extending forwardly from said device adjacent one end of said body portion for engaging one end of said container, a linearly movable clamp means extending forwardly from said device adjacent an opposite end of said body portion for engaging an opposite end of said container, a threaded shaft carried by said body portion and connected to said movable clamp, and means carried by said body portion for moving said threaded shaft to adjust the displacement between said stationary clamp means and said movable clamp means.

5. A device for holding a container, said device com prising a handle, a body portion rigidly fixed to and extending downwardly from the forward portion of said handle, stationary clamp means rigidly fixed to said handle and body portion and extending forwardly from said device adjacent one end of said body portion for engaging one end of said container, a threaded shaft extending lengthwise within said body portion, a movable clamp means fixed to an end of said threaded shaft for engaging an opposite end of said container, a nut on said threaded shaft intermediate the length thereof, said body portion being apertured to permit adjustment of said nut to cause movement of said threaded shaft, an edge of said body portion adjacent said aperture forming a shoulder to support said nut.

6. A device for holding a container, said device comprising a handle, a hollow body portion integral with said handle and extending downwardly from a forward end of said handle, at least one stationary clamp element rigidly fixed to and extending forwardly from said body portion, said body portion being substantially triangular-shaped in cross-section and comprising two sides converging from adjacent the front of said body to define an apex at the rear of said body, each of said sides having an apertured portion intermediate the height of said body extending away from said apex, said two apertured portions together defining a window extending from said apex toward the front of said body portion, a threaded shaft extending lengthwise within said body portion and projecting beyond the lower end of said body portion, a clamp element fixed to the projecting end of said shaft, a nut positioned on said shaft and adjustable through said window, shaft to vary the displacement clamp element 7. A device prising a handle, a handle and extending of said nut moving said between said stationary and said clamp element fixed on said shaft. for holding a container, said device comhollow body portion integral with said downwardly from a forward end adjustment of said handle, at least one stationary clamp element rigportion, sar

to and extending forwardly d body portion being substantially triangularfrom said body body and extending away tured poritons together from said apex toward base portion joining from said apex, said two aperdefining a window extending the front of said body portion, a said two side portions, a threaded shaft extending lengthwise within said body portion and projecting beyond the lower end of sald body portion, a

clamp clement fixed to the projecting end of said shaft,

a nut positioned on said shaft intermediate the length thereof and adjustable through said window, of said nut moving said shaft to vary adjustment between said stationary clamp element and said clamp element fixed on said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Germond Mar. 29, 1887 Love et al. Ian. 3, 1905 Miller July 15, 1913 Peyton June 9, 1925 Vernet Mar. 22, 1927 Hildreth Nov. 8, 1949 Worthington Aug. 8, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Jan. 23, 1880 

